January 2007 Entries

A post by Tim Hibbard where he talked about how few of his posts actually got published got me thinking about my approach to posting. Often I find that I am posting because something is irritating me. In itself that is not a bad thing. The responsible thing to do would be to come up with a solution to the problem, which is where I am often falling down. Instead of writing the first thing that comes into my head, hold onto the idea and let it develop into something more complete. I think this is a quality of good blogging that we should all aspire to uphold. So as a late new years resolution I will work to put more solutions in this blog and less complaining.

Ok. This isn't really architecture, but could you imagine the thrill of creating something as amazing as a comet? Comet 2006 P1 (McNaught) has been visible low in the evening sky the last few nights. It has been so bright that it is visible with the naked eye. One of the members of the astronomy club I belong to posted the following pictures. The Awe of Nature!

In there near future I plan on putting out a few posts based on my experience customizing process templates and process guidance for Team Foundation Server. What I am finding is that the documentation and available books fall short in this area. They tell you how to setup the product, but customizing it is an infinite black abyss.

As I am currently digging into the process guidance itself it is turning out to be a maze of XML and XSL files which are require some serious explanation. Calling their hierarchy is unclear would be putting it kindly. I am sure that they were created in a way that makes sense to the development team but they are a nightmare to maintain for anyone else.

I plan to post on both topics in an attempt to make them more clear for myself and other. Stay tuned.

[UPDATE]

Ok! So maybe this was a little harsh and I probably tired and frustrated. I still stick by the idea that this setup is hard to maintain, but it is not without any guidance. As I was continuing to try to decipher this product I went back to some of my resources that I had forgotten about. Mainly a MSDN document describing Customizing MSF Process Guidance.

I still plan to post on this subject to make it easier to understand, but I might be a little slower to judge.

Tim is a Solutions Architect for PSC Group, LLC. He has been an IT consultant since 1999 specializing in Microsoft technologies. Along with running the Chicago Information Technology Architects Group and speaking on Microsoft and architecture topics he was also contributing author on "The Definitive Guide to the Microsoft Enterprise Library".